“Lusamine, sweetheart, where did you get all these playmates?” she asks, not noticing how Rajkumari Lusamine’s face contorts into a deep, profound look of sadness. “You should take your new friends back to your room. I need to finish the plans for our new capital! I’ll name it after your father.”

Tears fall from Rajkumari Robin’s eyes, and Rajkumar Kenny grimaces. Raani Mystic, the mother of the four kingdoms, the one who brought peace between all of them and turned the Subtropics into an egalitarian, loving society, has been stuck three decades ago in the past for two weeks. Her dementia was noticeable two years ago, but she was still a functional ruler...until now.

“Mother…” Rajkumar Kenny sighs sadly, as he’s dragged away by his wife to take care of their sick son. He can’t bare to watch his mother lose herself and forget who he is. It’s even worse that his wife, Rajkumari Dua, never got to know the real Mystic very well. She’d never know…

Lusamine and Robin stare icily at each other. Robin doesn’t hate her mother, but she feels jealous that Mystic no longer recognises her. Grandmother Mystic was an even more caring version of mother Lusamine; the two of them had given Robin a great, sheltered childhood. But after Prince Sandlers was murdered...it was only Mystic who had given Robin much love.

It’s too much for Robin to handle. She walks out of the room, leaving Lusamine alone with her deteriorating mother.

This was the Prem House; the Love House. But these days, you couldn’t tell that at all.

Not with all of the tension between everyone. Lusamine is in hysterics over her daughter Faith’s impudence. She hasn’t shown any signs of being sad that her grandmother is weakening. And that bratty Dua only cares about her own son.

“Are you cold, Lusamine, dear? I understand that the monsoons are warm, but you have to remember that rain can make you sick!” Mystic exclaims cheerily like a broken record.

Rajkumari Lusamine Prem has only cried once since she was 15, but her sadness only grows more profound with each passing year. And she can’t leave her mother.

And so she stays by her side for the fifth day in a row. Her policing responsibilities ignored, Lusamine knows that there was a staged protest in Kusnodar by the Cyrus Anarchists; but she doesn’t care about her duties anymore.

“Your father will be back any minute now! Let’s greet him. Tell Harold to shove off!”.

Princess Leia Kamysheva sits at her desk, practicing her poetry, when she hears a knock on the window. Excited, she turns her head and sees the familiar tanned girl standing at her window. She stands up in a hurry, almost knocking her ink pot over, but managing to save it just in time, and flits towards the window to let her friend in.

“Cat!” she exclaims. “I was worrying you wouldn’t come!”

“I don’t have much time today,” Cat apologizes, fixing her messy, wavy brown hair in the mirror. She scowls at her reflection and the dirt and grime on her face before looking back at the princess. “So, how do you feel?”

“About being able to go somewhere outside besides the gardens?” Leia asks. Cat nods. “Well,” Leia says, pausing, trying to find the best words to fit the description of the feelings swirling inside her heart. “I’m truly excited. I don’t know anything about what’s beyond the castle walls. And what you’ve told me isn’t enough. I’d quite like to experience the public myself. Gods bless that I’m living to celebrate the anniversary festivities!” she says happily.

Her friend smiles back at her, and listens to Leia vent her excitements and concerns to her, before looking outside at the sun, and frowning. “Leia, I have to go. It’s getting dark.”

Leia’s small shoulders slump, before she slowly nods. “Okay. I understand. I do hope to see you around for the festivities! They’re said to be great fun, the most fun known to man!”

Cat smiles at Leia’s excitement. “I’m sure they are,” she smiles at the other girl. “I’ll see you soon, alright?”

Leia nods. “Okay!” she exclaims, and bids farewell to her friend, and after Cat slinks out of her window and Leia closes it behind her, Leia sits back down at her desk and continues poetry.

Not long after, someone knocks on her bedroom door. She puts the quill back in its rightful place before turning her head to the door. “Hello? Who is it?”

“It’s me,” her father’s deep voice replies.

“Papa! Come in,” she says quickly. “I’m merely practicing poetry.”

Her father, the Tsar, enters the room. “Poetry can be done another day,” he says firmly. “Your handmaidens will come in to help you get dressed. Dinner is soon, and there are some guests at tonight’s dinner, so your handmaidens will help you get dressed in proper attire for tonight. You have an hour.”

He leaves right after without a goodbye or any displays of fatherly affection towards Leia, but Leia has never known affection or love. Her father was as cold and emotionless towards her as he was towards anyone else. The only thing Leia got that nobody else got was occasional smiles. Sometimes he even called her Leia instead of ‘child’ or ‘(my) daughter’. Leia treasured those moments. it made her feel appreciated. She felt like her father’s daughter instead of another girl in the castle, despite her being the heir to the throne. Well, not really. Whatever boy she marries will be the new Tsar due to her mother’s death and lack of brothers Leia has.

Her handmaidens arrive soon and decide to dress her in the light blue silk gown, and she feels almost angelic as she enters the large dining hall and meets her father at the front of the main table, next to his throne.

“Hello, Papa,” she says quietly as she sits in her assigned seat. On her father’s opposite side sits her creepy uncle Lenny, who smiles poisonously at her, and she awkwardly shuffles in her seat, uncomfortable.

The dinner commences, Leia hiding her discomfort with a mask of happiness and thankfulness. She is truly thankful when the guests eventually retire to their guest chambers, and the dinner ends eventually after the seventh course is served, it being a foreign dessert made from ingredients imported from the Subtropics.

After her plate is cleared to the point where her father is pleased, Leia is given permission to go to her bedchambers and she wipes the makeup off her face, the stupid makeup that she never wanted to wear but the handmaidens always forced her to put on. She sighs as she sees her blotchy face in the mirror, before undressing herself and putting on her nightgown, shooing the waiting maids away, and curling up into her cold and lonely bed that was always too big for Leia, who’s always been small.

The pain of being alone numbed Leia a long time ago. She sometimes wonders that if her mother was here, would she be less alone? She likes to imagine so, because she thinks if her mother was here, she would have siblings to play with and her father would be less angry and mean all the time. She likes to think her mother would have caused the household to be happy and nice. But Leia never knew her mother, and Leia knows, deep down, that there’s a chance her mother isn’t the key to happiness. That the only way Leia can find happiness is within herself.

King Ianiant smiles dreamily as he observes the rising sun from the Liu Dome Observatory Deck. Ianiant Metropolis is just to the south; he can already see his face appearing on the billboards with a new catchy slogan. Ianiant never makes them; his daughter, Princess Isabelle, is better at doing that.

“When will Sir Pisa arrive, Ianiant?” questions Queen Ay-Chao, approaching nervously. She loves to watch the sunrise with her husband. It’s fiery red and gorgeous on the usually clear southeastern coast of Fliplinia.

“The Sir should be here in a few minutes, dear,” says the King, a hint of happiness in his voice. “Could you check up on Philip? He must attend the meeting via facecam to see how we do.”

Ianiant ponders the same thing that he always does as he prepares his breakfast via the FoodBot; who to choose for a heir? Ay-Chao is the only person Ianiant trusts in his family to rule properly; but traditions are there for a reason, and women will not rule.

The usual program used to rule when he’s away is very arrogant and Ianiant plans to end it in favour of a more humble one within the season. That only leaves Lux Pisa. Ianiant could certainly groom him to be a great leader...and with him in charge, the Riverlands would continue to develop into a majestic mix of nature and city.

Ianiant starts monologuing. “Man and machine would combine and the Icelands would be forced to cease land to-”

“Hello, child!” yells the energetic Lux Pisa as he enters the room, interrupting Ianiant. He’s the only person who really ‘gets’ King Ianiant. He’s also the only person who is allowed to joke with the King; all others will be detained.

“Welcome, Sir. Let’s get the meeting set up!” yells Ianiant. “PHIL! WHERE ARE YOU?”.

Meanwhile, Prince Phil sits in his room, playing a shooter video game. His food has been delivered to him via a FoodBot, and he had eaten it long ago. Obsessively, he turns around repeatedly to make sure nobody’s behind him, before shooting and killing an enemy. “Ha!” he yells. “You can’t defeat the king of Nitelife!”

To everyone else, they just hear loud noises and yells at the video game as they walk by the prince’s bedroom door. Ay-Chao knows her son very well, and this is very typical of him. Usually when the family has to have dinner together, she can find him in his room, playing video games, having already eaten. Her son is not very good at remembering.

She walks by her son’s door and hears video game music blaring loudly, then shooting noises, then curses. She smiles to herself, knowing her son’s antics, but she readies a reprimand for his cursing, before opening the door to his room.

“Phil?” she timidly asks, and she sees her son on the motion-sensing gaming mat, shooting fake enemies and dodging shots from them. “Phil!” she calls out, and her son, distracted, turns his head towards her and is promptly shot.

“Turn off your video game,” Ay-Chao commands, and Phil does so. “You don’t have to come to the meeting-”

“Yes!” Phil crows, interrupting his mother. She frowns at him, and then he looks apologetic. “Sorry, go on.”

“But you have to attend it via facecam, like your sister is doing. So you can’t play video games all day.”

Phil’s previously excited face falls, before he nods. “Yes, mom,” he says. Ay-Chao smiles affectionately at her son before leaving him to set up his facecam for the meeting. She goes back up to the Liu Dome.

Princess Isabelle, on a school trip, sits in her hotel room, her tablet in front of her. She had already been to Ianiant Metropolis multiple times, but her parents insisted she go to public school, so her school was on a trip to the island and she had to go. She sits on the double bed in the room she shares with another girl her age before tapping some buttons and video calling her father.

“Good, you’re on time for once,” her father simply says before propping the tablet she sees the meeting from on a table and sitting in his seat. Isabelle winces at the sunrise.

“Your brother’s doing facecam as well as you,” her mother daintily explains. “We’re planning the festivities. Do you have any ideas?”

“Not really, besides that there should be varied cuisines there, but the FoodBots can provide that.” she says sensibly, before pausing. “Wait. The main festivities will be held in a building, correct? If so, what’s the basic shape of the building? That should determine where the tables for eating are and where the stage for performing is and where the screens showing the other smaller festivals are. If it’s a rectangle or square, the FoodBots should stand near the walls where the screens are, and the tables can be in the middle, and the stage can be on the opposite wall of the main entrance. There should be lots of windows too, so people don’t feel trapped. Perhaps you could make the building out of glass?” she suggests.

Ianiant and the architect share an approving glance, and Ianiant clears his throat. “Your suggestion has been noted.” he says. “Thank you for your input, Isabelle.”

“Impressive.” the architect whispers. He then turns towards Isabelle’s right. “Do you have any suggestions, Phil?”

“Well,” her brother says, “Add gaming mats so the kids aren’t bored with the performers.” he says bluntly.

“Phil!” Ay-Chao exclaims. “The entertainers we’ve hired for the main festival are prestigious!”

“Kids might think they’re boring, and then they’ll get into food fights with their ‘varied cuisines.’” he says, mocking Isabelle’s tone with the last two words.

“Philip.” Ianiant snaps. “If you can’t handle yourself then you can be dismissed.”

“Really?” Phil asks, sounding excited. “Okay, bye then-”

“No.” Isabelle’s mother says firmly. “You’re to stay. You can’t play games all day, and you can’t weasel yourself out of meetings you’ll have to attend more of as you grow up.”